Endpoints are one of the most important assets of an enterprise. According to a study, 68 percent of IT admins said the frequency of attacks in endpoints had increased in 2019. More than half of respondents said their organizations are ineffective at surfacing threats because their endpoint security solutions are not effective at detecting advanced attacks. In 2020, this problem became even more intense with increasing attacks targeted at organizations due to remote work norms.
Managing endpoints for the smooth functioning of a business is already a big challenge. The surge in attacks has piled up a lot of IT routines leading to more silos and mismanagement.
The typical IT security and management
In most cases, IT teams purchase multiple point solutions to tackle their endpoint security and management needs. For security, they have two or more patching tools, a vulnerability scanner, and a threat detection and response tool. For day-to-day management, they might run manual tasks or use software deployment tools and track them through ticketing software.
The multiple tools approach might help IT teams manage the trials and tribulations, which come their way, but it’s still not an efficient approach to streamline their tasks. Different point solutions for each security task may sound like a good plan to keep everything up-to-date. But throw in 5 to 10 IT admins and a handful of security tasks, there couldn’t be a better way to slow things down and compromise security. The siloed approach can easily introduce problems on a bigger scale you may not even realize.
Why multiple solutions for endpoint security and management don’t make sense
- Increase in software spending costs for multiple tools
- Difficulty in scaling the same tools to support more devices in the long run
- Difficulty in maintaining and training staff to use multiple software
- High network bandwidth consumption due to multiple tools running tasks at the same time
- Lack of a common view across the entire organization’s security posture
- Insufficient common ground for adequate collaboration among members of the IT team
- Additional spending on API calls and developer services for integrations
These disadvantages point to the fact that multiple-point solutions are not a good fit for a modern IT infrastructure and have put IT teams in a spot to look for an innovative and strategic approach.
The rising need of unified endpoint security and management approach in today’s market
Considering the different challenges in the siloed approach, and changing working norms, a unified approach with role–based access control is becoming a crucial requirement for organizations today. As this approach unites different endpoint security and management tasks under one roof, IT teams have already started realizing the tangible benefits it brings to the table. With a centralized approach, you can proactively reduce costs, increase productivity, and provide your teams with an advanced way to deal with the increasing number of attacks.
Top benefits of a unified approach to endpoint management and security
-
Increased operational efficiency
The biggest benefit of using a unified platform is the increased efficiency due to structured operations. Instead of jumping between different tools to execute one task, you can initiate and close the task in the same tool without any errors. You can assign tasks to specific team members and track them to finish in a streamlined manner.
-
Saves time and increases productivity
A unified solution is a one-stop solution to deal with all interdependent tasks. You can avoid unnecessary internal calls and emails to save a lot of time for your IT team. When teams huddle in a single tool, they collaborate better and accomplish tasks faster.
-
Easy asset lifecycle management
An asset is put through a lot of stress when using multiple tools. Several agents are installed to support different needs, causing excessive network bandwidth consumption and slow system performance. When an asset is controlled by a platform, the asset’s entire life cycle is completed within the tool. All maintenance and security tasks can be executed easily.
-
Reduced costs
One security tool will include a price for implementation, scaling, and de-provisioning. Imagine how the costs multiply when you use several other tools. A unified solution will reduce costs by many folds, so you have one tool to handle everything.
-
Easy scaling
Different tools have varying levels of compatibility and ease of expansion due to different architecture and product design. When you start onboarding new devices and expand to longer processes, different tools will not operate on the same level of proficiency, making the system hard to scale. On the other hand, a unified platform is built with compatible internal controls to scale seamlessly as you onboard new processes and devices.
-
Reduced training and maintenance costs
Whenever a new solution or IT team member is onboarded, enterprises invest in dedicated training sessions, certifications, and management costs. With a unified platform, all team members use the same tool. They help each other out and build a shared knowledge base to use the tool to its full potential without you having to interfere and train.
Moving forward in 2021
2020 has taught an important lesson to businesses: Always be prepared for sudden changes. Moving to a modern, comprehensive, and a unified approach is the best decision IT teams can make to manage and secure their diverse endpoints.
SanerNow is a good fit for unifying endpoint security and management from the cloud. Through a centralized console, you can perform tasks on all major OS platforms such as Windows, Mac, and Linux. You can also dedicate user roles and permissions for each admin in your IT team for better collaboration, delegation, and follow-ups.
Give it a whirl. You’ll find out more.